Painting in Bustan: Yusuf seduced by Zulaykha in a fairytale palace

Abstract

At the end of the 15th century, the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara had a splendid court in the city of Herat, in present-day Afghanistan. He commissioned the manufacturing of an illustrated manuscript of the Bustan or “Orchard”, a book of counsel written by the Persian poet Sa’di two centuries before. For this manuscript, the master painter Kamal al-Din Bihzad made a painting to illustrate the anecdote of the seduction of Yusuf, in which he depicted Zulaykha chasing Yusuf from room to room in a labyrinth-like palace.